Experimental and numerical study on airflow-dust migration behavior in an underground cavern group construction for cleaner production

Abstract

A large amount of dust will be generated during the construction of underground cavern group. The understanding of the dust migration in the construction ventilation of the underground cavern group can help to optimize the cavern group’s ventilation design and improve the ventilation scheme of the cavern group’s rationality. In this paper, the effects of dust particle size, dust migration path, initial dust concentration in cavern, tunnel entrance wind speed and air duct outlet wind speed on dust migration were studied by combining a model test and numerical calculation. The results show that in the process of dust ventilation migration, the larger the diameter of the dust particles, the more difficult it is to discharge. The time of dust concentration reducing to 2 mg/m3 has a logarithmic distribution with ventilation conditions. The high-speed airflow from the outlet of the air duct is an important factor affecting the migration of dust. The development of airflow is divided into vortex region, recirculation region, collision region and stability region. Vortex region and collision region have lower wind speed and higher dust concentration, which are the unfavorable positions in the ventilation process. In the actual construction process, shortening the distance of dust migration can make the dust discharge quickly. The amount of dust generated by construction has a significant impact on the peak concentration of dust migration. During the ventilation process, the wind speed at the entrance of the tunnel and at the outlet of the air duct has a significant impact on the migration time of dust, at the same time, the ventilation efficiency should be considered while selecting the wind speed.